A hot day in Wandsworth and new plans

A meeting at the Islamic School in Tooting, south London. We discuss plans for the embroidery classes at the Furzedown Project, starting in July.... And meet with an enthusiastic response!  A good start to the morning. 

Then over to Mantle Court in Wandsworth, to see friends at the Asian Women's Association. 

Am very lucky to be invited to lunch.

Spinach, black beans and halva. 

 And a wonderful surprise from Zubaidah Shah, who has embroidered two more, exquisite, swatches for the Stitch Roadshow. She is 83.  The day ends with some very good news. We hear that we have been part-funded by Hammersmith and Fulham Fast Track Grants to run a short series of embroidery events and a tea party in a local residential home.

Writing up the stories about the exhibition pieces. Chhaya Biswas embroidered an intricate design of daffodils (that she drew on the fabric with pencil.) She had not embroidered for years but was determined to finish a design that would have daunted far more experienced embroiderers. The daffodil, she said, was her favourite flower. She had studied Wordsworth's famous poem as a girl in Bangladesh but had never seen a daffodil. "They told us that they were yellow and swayed in the wind, but I had never seen one." As a young bride in Wandsworth, at the age of 18, she saw her first daffodils on Wandsworth Common and was enchanted.